Our thoughts are powerful. In our minds we can do anything. Making our dreams reality requires the power of believing they can happen. So many people see the glass half empty, but there's no hope in a pessimistic attitude. Life is all about possibility. I've always wanted to start a blog and I've wasted a lot of time thinking about it. But now, I've finally put my thoughts into action, simply, because I can ...

Saturday, 18 March 2017

Negativity stays with you

We have a detention system at our school. Every time the learners
break the rules, they get negative points on the system. When these points add
up to a total of -40, they attend a detention class on a Friday afternoon for
three hours and spend the time writing out the rules of the school. If they
don’t attend the detention class, they get double the points that got them
there in the first place, i.e. -80.

Some of these children do positive things, like cleaning the
classrooms for the teachers, to get positive points. This has been acceptable
until more recently when the principal decided that the learners have to be
punished for their wrongdoing. He made an interesting statement with regard to
this. If you drive through a green traffic light every day of your life and
then drive through a red light on a given day, you can’t drive through five
green lights and expect to be pardoned for driving through the red traffic
light. This simply means that the learners can’t do positive things to get
positive points to counter-balance the negative points. No good deed can pay
for a crime.

How do these learners get positive points? Well, there’s no
specific plan in action. The negative points are captured on the system and
they stay there indefinitely. If the learners continue to misbehave or avoid
detention classes, the negative points accumulate. The only way they can reduce
the number of negative points is to sit in the detention class. When they attend the detention class, they are given +40 points. At the end of the year,
the negative points are carried over to the next year; the burden of having
negative points is dragged on into the New Year. This makes the learners
despondent because they cannot redeem themselves in any way, other than attending the
detention class. Some may feel that this is unfair, but is it?

When you wash your hands with a hand sanitizer that kills 99% of
the germs on your hands, you tend to feel clean. Have you ever wondered what
happens to the 99% of germs that have been killed? They’re still on your hands.
Just like those dead germs stick to your hands, negative behaviour sticks to
you. You cannot sanitize your negative behaviour. Everything you think, say or
do stays with you. Just like those detention points that add up, so, too, your
bad behaviour adds up; it makes you who you are. The same can be said for all
the goodness that you emit. Every good thought, word and deed adds up and makes
you who you are.

As you grow older, your conscience tends to lean towards focusing
on the bad things. You learn to regret your past and break yourself down in the
process. If you always focus your energy on doing good, your conscience won't be so heavy. This is what we learn in Leo Tolstoy’s story, The Three Questions. The answers to the three questions in the story bear the light.

1)What is the most important thing you must do in life? You must do
what is good.

2)When must you do it? You must do it now.

3)Who are the most important people in your life to whom you must do
it? Every person who is with you now is the most important person in your life
and you must do what is good to that person.

These three questions are
purpose-driven. So many people are searching for their purpose in life. There's no need to look for
your purpose. Your purpose isn't something that will be given to you; it isn't something you can achieve. Your purpose is within you. The answers to these three questions should be your purpose.When you learn to serve others and you
are good to them while they are with you, you will be motivated to serve even
more. It’s
the golden rule of life: Do to others as you would have them do to you (Luke
6:31). Sadly, many people are negative towards themselves. They have negative
thoughts about themselves and they have nothing good to say about themselves.
They also harm themselves through their negative behaviour. This is called
self-abuse.

Charity begins at home. Learn to be good to yourself first before you are good to others. Everything you do, for yourself and others, will come back to you. Focus on what is good. Just like negativity stays with you, so, too, goodness stays with you. Be the light that shines, even in the shadows, and make a positive difference. It will change the way you see life.

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About Me

I am a high school teacher. I teach English as a first and second language in a small town in Limpopo, South Africa. I am married and have two children. I've written four books.
1) Pop-In Jay Pomp (children)
2) Mareijke's Courage (adventure romance)
3) The 6th Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Kill (murder mystery)
4) The Power is Yours (teen motivation).
My motto in life is: You are what you constantly think. I live by these words. The thoughts in a person's mind are powerful: they can create, motivate, encourage, disillusion and destroy. The art of thinking lies in the power of a positive attitude. This is the true weapon to success.